Because of the high theft/vulnerable nature of MTC devices, e.g., in-vehicle device (IVD), tracking/alarming systems become very popular nowadays. For IVD-based scenario, these systems can be classified into three types: lock devices, alarm systems, and vehicle tracking/recovery systems. However, they have the following deficiencies.                The commonly used vehicle anti-theft lock (such as a steering wheel anti-theft lock) is relatively cheap, it is inconvenient to use and may be easily disarmed by skilled thieves.        Majority of car alarm systems send out frequently false alarms.        The commonly used vehicle tracking/recovery systems are based on radio signals, such as the Lojack tracking system, the ProScout GPS Vehicle Tracking System, the TravelEyes2 Vehicle Tracking System and so on. After a vehicle has been stolen, the owner can report the problem to the police or the GPS tracking office. The wireless transmitter or the GPS device in the car will be used to pinpoint the location and lead police to rapid recovery. However, these systems have high upfront purchase price as well as maintenance cost (e.g. a monthly monitoring fee) and are easy to defeat by simply breaking off the antenna or covering it with metal, and then the GPS tracking system will become useless.        
The aforementioned three systems are vulnerable because it is easy to be removed/destroyed, even if the alarm is not removed, the stolen vehicle is difficult to be tracked after the vehicle is on the road.
Recent advanced research in sensor-network-based vehicle anti-theft system operates within a limited parking lot area, because of the limited wireless access of a base-station. Stolen vehicles can be detected by other vehicles in the parking lot and reported to its local base station. However, the stolen vehicle is often driven faster than the base station can response, and it will be lost once the vehicle is driven out of the parking surveillance area.
In the above mentioned systems, the owner is able to report the car theft but incapable of tracking the current location of the vehicle without the GPS positioning function or in case of this function being destroyed, which brings hurdles for quick recovery.